General information

...it was a period in music when great things were achieved. It possible was the end of a very, very special time in modern music...

...a creative high-point for the artists and one of the masterpieces of progressive rock...

Brain Salad Surgery peaks at #11 in the US on 12/29/73 and at #2 in the UK on the same date.

The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) Gold and Platinum Awards program was launched in 1958 in an effort to create a standard by which to measure sales of a sound recording. In the beginning, there was only a Gold album award for the sale of 500,000 copies. As the industry grew, other awards were developed. The Platinum award (1,000,000 sold) was created in 1974.

Norman St John-Stevas (British Minister for the Arts) presented ELP with Gold records for Brain Salad Surgery. "Culture is what people enjoy" said the Minister.

BPI (British Phonographic Industry) certified awards were originally introduced in April 1973 to measure the performance of individual records based on sales to the trade each week. Qualification for albums was initially on the basis of revenue received by manufacturers.

The awards were presented to a number of recipients starting with band members and family, management and then to key record company staff who it was felt contributed to the success of the release or the band. They are also given to a small number of high profile radio stations, DJ's and shops whose efforts increased the profile of the band. There are a number of different types of award discs with the most hard to find being those certified by the record companies official body in each country, for example in the UK it is the BPI, USA have the RIAA , Canada CRIA, France SNEP, these being just a few of those we have come across. These most typically, are presented to band members, management and national radio stations. The second type of award are 'In House' awards which are produced by the record company in slighly larger numbers to thank industry 'workers' and general media.